Dying Darkness
by Danielincrediblex
Summary: Its summer, Phil has nothing to do, his friends are way and he thinks he might just die of boredom. That is until new neighbors move in, he meets Dan, a shy boy with a smile that could light up the whole world. Or the one where phil is a super genius and Dan Dan is something else.


Chapter 1: Light

My bed is always more comfortable on cold days and this of course was no exception, my body enveloped in a comforting cocoon of warmth that contrasted with the chilly air of the room. I stretched my body across the mattress rubbing the stiffness out of my muscles. Wanting more sleep, I closed my eyes, trying to resume my slumber, but I knew it was no use, once I woke up it was rather difficult for me to fall back a sleep.

"Good morning Lucy," I said still groggy from my sleep. Lucy was my longest running project; I actually started working on her two years ago. She is what people like to call artificial intelligence or A.I. But she was more than that, or at least I hoped she would be. I was currently trying to integrate her to the whole house, placing surveillance cameras and speakers that would guarantee communication throughout the house and, hopefully, the cars.

"Good morning, Phil," She replied.

"Can I have an integration report, please," I asked.

"Integration is complete," she answered.

"Can you give me the user's clearance levels?" I question.

"Nia Lester, Security clearance level two. Elisabeth and Christopher Lester, Security clearance level four. Phillip Lester, Security clearance Alpha," she confirmed.

"Thank you," I replied turning my body trying to find a more comfortable position, I, inevitably, saw my clock on the nightstand, eight thirty it read. Mum should be calling me to take breakfast any minute now.

"Philip, wake up breakfast is ready," my mum yelled from down stairs. I just smiled, she was too easy to predict. Yes my name is Philip Michael Lester, but the few friends I have call me Phil. I sat up, still groggy, but more alert that just a couple of minutes ago. The floor was cold more so without my socks on. I feel like sleeping with socks is a fruitless endeavor, sometimes I wake with one sock on and the other lost in the jumble of my comforter, other times I wake up with both of them gone. I reached into the drawer of my nigh stand taking the clean pair of socks I set there the night before and once the task of putting the socks on was complete I walked down stairs, not bothering to change out of my pajamas.

"Morning sleepy head," mum greeted me, her smile was as wide as ever. I really dint know how it was possible for someone to be smiling at that ungodly hour, but it was contagious so I smiled as well. "Could you go and wake your sister up, I have to be at work in half an hour," she asked, it sounded as a request but I clearly knew it was more of an order. Nodding my head I turned in the direction of Nia's room. Her room was in the first level of the house, but it still took me some time to reach it.

I knocked on the door trying to stir her from her slumber. "Nia, wake up mums leaving in thirty minutes." All I got was a muffled sound, which I only assumed to be 'I'm going'. "Just hurry up," I shouted as I walked back to the kitchen.

"I made pancakes, do you want some?" mum asked as I sat down. They looked delicious; they were probably going to be the highlight of my day. Just as I reached to grab my third, Nia decided to grace us with her presence. Her blonde hair was a mess, ends sticking out from different places and angles; her pale blue eyes were glossed over, she still looked drowsy from her sleep. "Hi honey, do you want some pancakes as well?"

"Yes please," she answered walking over to the stool next to mine. "Philly, could you please help me up?" She was wearing a face I recognized all too well and still I couldn't help but do as she asked. She started to speak again but I already knew what she wanted. I leaned over and placed some pancakes on her plate and poured some orange juice in her cup. She just smiled at me.

"So Phil, what are you planning on doing today?" It was a simple question really, but it did nothing but bring the impending boredom to mind. School had let out for summer two weeks earlier and I was already beyond bored. Chris and Pj, my two best friends, were at their relatives for the first four weeks of Holliday. There wasn't any other sixteen-year old in my neighborhood and nothing fun I can do.

I groaned, "Nothing, there's nothing to do."

"Well you could take Nia to the library, there's a kid's book reading today, and then you could take her to the ice cream shop," she suggested. I looked over to see if Nia was at all interested and of course she was jumping up and down excitedly.

"That sounds lovely," I said. It really sounded better than anything I was going to do that day. "What time is the reading?"

"One thirty. Look at the time, I have to go. Bye, behave well." She said, placing kisses on both Nia and I. "Your dad should be here at about five, if traffic isn't too bad."

"Mum, can I…" is all I got out before she interrupted me.

"Yes Phil, you can take the car. Just be careful," she responded as she walked out the front door. I just grinned.

"Nia are you done," I asked, she nodded. "Want to play some Wii?" She continued nodding but a smile adorned her face. "Go on then. I'll be there in a few." I stood, picking the dishes to place them in the sink. As I turned to wipe the counter all I saw were Nia's feet dashing to the living room. "You know you're not supposed run in the house, you could break something," I reprimanded.

"I'm not going to break anything," She yelled back.

"Just don't expect me to cover for you if you do," I noted.

Once the counter was clean I walked into the living room. Nia was sitting on the floor, already playing Mario karts. I sat next to her and waited for her to finish the race. When she did I picked up my remote and joined the game. We played a few games; Nia already seemed frustrated by the fifth round of her loosing. "You know it isn't fair, you're like a super computer. No one can beat you in this game, or any game for that matter," she exclaimed, I just laughed at her frustration. I did, however, have to agree with her, games weren't really fair when playing with me; almost nothing was. People use the word genius to describe me; I on the other hand, thought myself as a rather smart individual that and having an identic memory, gave an unfair advantage.

"Do you just want to watch the telly then?" _What? I might be incredibly smart but I still enjoyed a good show. Plus there was nothing else to do._ She nodded. I flipped through the channels, and like every other time you're bored out of your mind, there's was nothing to watch so I just rented a movie. It was just another generic superhero movie. It wasn't the best movie ever but it served its purpose, distracting us.

At twelve thirty I told Nia to go get dressed, I knew how long she could take and I didn't want a break down in the middle of the library for having picked the wrong shoes with her shirt. Granted she was only six, but could still be quite the diva when she had her mind set on it. I changed as well, black trousers the shoes to match and a white shirt with a small graphic pattern. The clothes were easy, my hair not so much. Ten minutes of straightening later I finally got the results I wanted.

"Nia, are you ready?" I asked as I headed out of the upstairs bathroom.

"Yes, Hurry up." Funny she's the one that took thirty-five minutes and I'm the one that's late. When reached the bottom of the stairs I grabbed my car keys.

"Ok, let's go," I say taking her hand. "Remember be careful." I closed the door and turned to walk to my car and by my car I do mean my car. I bought it last year. Remember the super smart thing about me, yea; well I liked to dabble in the stock market. I made some great investments and made enough money to buy a new Lincoln with some money left over. So it's annoying that I needed to ask permission to use it. Parents, am I right?

I walked Nia to the back seats of the car and sat her down on her booster, buckled her up and closed the door. Having avoided the early morning traffic rush, the car ride, to the library, was very peaceful. I glanced up at the review mirror and saw that Nia is bobbing her head to the rhythm of the music. I smiled and continued driving; the ride to the library was short. I parked _my_ car and as I shut the engine Nia jumped out, she really was exited. I got out too and chased after her, before she got into any sort of trouble. I cached up to her, before she tried to cross the street, and grabbed her hand, she just smiled and I could tell she was ecstatic, it's wasn't very often that she got to play and interact with kids her age, being home schooled wasnt the best way to make friends.

We walked into the library; I could hear all the kids before I could even see them, what I thought would be a quiet book reading was really more of a small carnival. Games and activities were laid out throughout the building with kids jostling about, causing quite the commotion if I might add. I felt Nia pull on my hand and I looked down to see what she wanted. "What's up?" I asked.

"I want to go get my face painted," she said with the same pout from earlier. "There's a booth right over there, can we go please."

"You look so cute!" Nia insisted but no matter what she said I knew I looked… well I looked cute; no self-respecting teen boy wants to be classified as 'cute'.

"How did you convince me to get this again?" I asked.

"The butterfly looks so pretty," she insists.

"I'm not saying that the butterfly you chose isn't 'Pretty', but why dint you get it painted instead?" I asked getting more frustrated with her.

When I accompanied Nia to get face painted she somehow convinced me to get my face painted as well. She decided on hearts and flowers, I told the artist I wanted a peace sign, but Nia somehow managed to conspire against me, and got the painter to paint a butterfly on my face. It wasn't a small inconspicuous butterfly, no; it was about the size of my fist and to top it off it was right on my cheek.

"Come on, let's go get some ice cream," she said, "you promised, remember?"

"Ok, let's go," I said. I was still upset but I would get over it soon enough.

We buckled up and I drove to the ice cream shop. The shop itself was a small building, just big enough to enclose the multiple refrigerators, the counters and a few small tables and chairs. We walked up to the counter to order our ice cream. I see the clerk was a young bubbly girl about my age, her blond hair was tied in a ponytail her emerald eyes sparkled and her smile widened when she saw us. I could see she was looking at my butterfly painting and I count help the blush that rises in my face.

"Nice painting, it's cute," she said obviously amused. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nia's smile as well, I'd get her back sooner or later.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "Can we have two ice cream bowls, one vanilla and the other strawberry?"

"Of course," She responded as she started preparing our ice cream. "Do you want sprinkles or chocolate syrup?"

"Both," I replied. When she finished preparing the ice cream I pay. I took both bowls and lead Nia to a table. We sat and ate our ice cream in relative comfort. I asked Nia what she thought of the carnival, she, understandably, loved it.

It was four thirty by the time we headed back to our house. As I turned the corner, into the street I knew so well, I saw a moving truck parked by in the driveway of the house that has been on sale for the past month. I drove by slower than usual to trying to see the new owners and more specifically to see if they had any kids my age, unfortunately I saw no one, they must have been touring house tour. As I approach my house I saw my dad's car in the driveway; he apparently got out of work early. I parked the car in the garage and walked over to unbuckle Nia. She ran ahead of me and by the time I made it back inside I saw Nia squealing and laughing as my dad threw her up and down.

"Hi dad, how was work?" I asked.

"You know, the usual," he responded. "Cute butterfly," he adds, I just rolled my eyes.

"Anything fun happen?" I asked ignoring his grin.

"Not really," he answered. "Michael wants you to come over to the lab some time to help us with the labs super computers." Michael was my dad's boss, I met him when I was twelve, my dad was working on an unstable super conducting polymer and he wanted me to help him stabilize the structure, it was the most fun I had in a long time. The lab on the other hand was a top secret government facility where he worked as a leader of a research group that specialized in supercomputing.

"Yea, sure it's been a while since I've been in the lab anyways," I responded. "I'm just going to work on Lucy," I say walking up the stair to my room.

"I'll call you down when diners ready," dad replies.

My room was my sanctuary, it was the place I felt the most comfortable in the whole house. Sure my room might have been larger than the average teen boy's room and it might have been equipped with the latest tech and gadgets made by my dad and I. But, in my opinion, the best part of my room was that it faced the edge of the cliff the house was built on, giving me an amazing view of London and its amazing sunset.

"Lucy, open Manhattan project," I said and as I did the two moderately big book cases in my room slid to open revealing a clear glass door. I walked in, turning to the left stepping down the stairs. My parents of course knew nothing about his room and what it contained. It was nothing bad, really. The room is was my 'workshop', security station and safe room. It was built perfectly into the cliff. There walls were made of cement and screens covered almost every surface. I liked to work on my little projects there. I was currently working on a new solar panel, running so many screens at a time consumed a bit of energy.

I focused on attaching the back structure, ignoring the world outside and apparently the time as well

"Your parents are calling you for diner, Sir," Lucy informs me.

"Thank you, Lucy" I reply heading to the stairs. The bookshelves moved aside as I approached them. "Lucy, Lockdown the Manhattan project."

I could smell the food as I step out of my room. It only got stronger as I approached the dining room.

"Glad you could join us," mum said in a mocking tone.

"Hi mum, how was work?"

"It was ok, you know basic, interrogations, paper work and more interrogations," she replies in a bored tone. "How was your day? Nice butterfly by the way."

Before I could answer, Nia beat me to it. She informed her of the day's events, by the time they were done, I had finished my diner. I excused myself from the table and started heading to my room.

"Honey, before you go. I met the new neighbors. They have a son about your age; you should go and meet him. He's cute," she finished in a suggestive tone. I groaned, mum tried to match me up with every teen she saw, it was sweet to a degree, but it got annoying. "Just go meet the boy; I'm sure you wouldn't mind a new friend this summer."

She was right, I wouldn't heave mind a new friend; if he was cute that was just an added bonus. I walked into the bathroom to see if I was presentable, if he was in fact cute I didn't want to look like a mess. I still had my glassed on from the morning and the butterfly still remained on my face. I scrubbed the butterfly painting of my face, combed my hair trying to get it back to a somewhat presentable state and once I did I was out the door.

It was a lot warmer than this morning, the light of the descending sun gave a golden glow to everything, but the slight breeze made it feel a lot cooler than it would have been, the sky was almost clear but there were still some fluffy white clouds floating about.

I walked to our new neighbor's house. The house was smaller than ours, not by much but still smaller, its modern architecture matched ours. Its front lawn was neatly trimmed; its outskirts decorated with small flowers and shrubs. On one of its side stood a, large, oak tree that gave shade to whole yard. I approached the door; it's a dark blue color matched the palate of the whole house. I knocked three times and took a step back. It was a minute before I hear a shuffling on the other side. My mom wasn't wrong; the boy who answered the door was breathtaking. His brown hair matched the brown of his eyes. His skin had a light gold complexion. He was shorter than me by a few inches and his shy smile was nothing short of adorable.

"Hi," I said a bit louder than I intended. "My name is Phil; I'm your next door neighbor." I extended my hand to greet him. He shook my hand tentatively then returned it to his side.

"Hi Phil, um… my name is Dan. It's nice to meet you," he said. I wasn't sure but I was positive I saw him blush for a second.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"I would invite you in but I'm sure you don't want to see the mess in there,"

"Where did your family move from?" I ask.

"A little town west of Central London, beautiful town too," he says almost in a whisper.

"Why did you move here?"

"Dad got a better job offer here, so we moved," he answered, averting his eyes. "Want to sit down?" he asks as he points to a bench on the side of the door.

We sat there trying getting to know each other. It was more than thirty minutes before Dan actually looked directly at me, but as I turned to look at him he averted his eyes back down. I, on the other hand, had no problem looking at him and got distracted more than once just looking into his eyes, at first I thought they were just brown, but as the sun moved lower the light highlighted his warm caramel eyes the light illuminating the golden flecks hidden within them. They were beautiful, to say the least, but in that beauty hid sadness, sadness that no person so young should have.

He's a very shy person, I got that much. I tried my best to get him to talk; I could only get small conversations out of him, enough to learn that he was the same age as I, but not much else.

"Well it was nice meeting you," I said smiling and turned to leave.

"Nice meting you too," he mumbled.


End file.
